The Quitter's Thread--for those who have quit or are thinking of quitting smoking

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

^{Topic split from: Coronavirus}

 

2 hours ago, klingklang77 said:

I smoke 1-2 cigarettes on average (more when I drink)

 

I don't wish to burst your bubble (well... actually, yes, I really do), but "light smoking" is almost as dangerous to your health as heavy smoking.  The damages that are caused by one or two cigarettes do not increase in a linear manner like you would expect.  In fact, the damage caused by one or two cigarettes a day is only doubled when the person smokes an entire pack a day.  You might even notice that you don't feel especially worse off on days when you've smoked more.  Or those nights when you were young and smoked two packs in a night--you had a bit more of a cough the next day but weren't completely destroyed.  That's because your lung function is already significantly impaired by the first cigarette--those that follow are just following the path beaten by the first.  Also don't forget that smoking affects literally every organ in your body, not just the lungs.  Smoking can even cause hair loss and cognitive dysfunction.  And you get to the same place with one or two cigarettes as with a pack, in the same amount of time.  Scary stuff.

 

Honestly, this is what led me to quit.  I wanted to congratulate myself on having cut down to "only" four cigarettes a day--two with coffee in the morning and two at night.  I wanted to hear that it was basically harmless and that I had more or less already quit.  Yet, I couldn't find a single piece of evidence to relieve my conscience, and believe me, I tried REALLY HARD to find confirmation for my bias, for someone to tell me what I wanted to hear.  The more I read, the more freaked out I became.  For any "light smokers" reading this, I really encourage you to find out how bad light smoking is for your health.  The good news is that it should be much, much easier for you to quit than for a heavy smoker--so your restraint has some benefits after all.  However, you have to quit first before you can reap any of those benefits.  Otherwise, you might as well smoke more as smoke less.

 

After you quit, here is another sobering thought: Fully 90% of people who smoke "just one" return to smoking again.  That's why it's important to simply... never smoke again.  The tail of nicotine addiction is long.  You smoke for five minutes, but the nicotine receptors in your brain take months to go away again.  It's simply not worth it.

 

sorry for the long-winded PSA, just from one former "light smoker" to another--it's still not too late to determine what kind of middle age you are going to have.  I want to have a comfortable and healthy middle and old age and that's why I stopped smoking "lightly."

 

/lecture

[klingklang77 501]

@dessa_dangerous

 

No, you’re right. I have quit a few times for years at a time. It’s not easy. It’s a work in progress. 

[Keleth 9,346]

1 hour ago, klingklang77 said:

I smoke 1-2 cigarettes on average

I´ve always wondered how someone does this.I tried this originally when I gave up but 1 or 2 just left me wanting more.

[klingklang77 501]

10 minutes ago, Keleth said:

I´ve always wondered how someone does this.I tried this originally when I gave up but 1 or 2 just left me wanting more.

 

Sorry to go off-topic. Last one. 

 

I have no clue how I do it. I don’t even like cigarettes very much. I just have a habit of only smoking at night and a cigarette before bed. I don’t like to smoke much in summer. Been doing this on and off for 20 years. 

 

Back on topic and sorry! 

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

16 minutes ago, klingklang77 said:

 

Sorry to go off-topic. Last one. 

 

I have no clue how I do it. I don’t even like cigarettes very much. I just have a habit of only smoking at night and a cigarette before bed. I don’t like to smoke much in summer. Been doing this on and off for 20 years. 

 

Back on topic and sorry! 

 

basically same situation as me.  It's so much easier to manage when you have a smoking routine.  At some point you just... don't smoke at the prescribed time, and then hardly miss it the rest of the time.  Granted, it took a little time to get used to coffee without a smoke, without the ritual of fetching the ashtray and positioning all my stuff.  About a week and a half, I'd say.  After that I hardly even noticed anymore that something was missing.  Ditto in the evenings.  Also the same for me was that I had stopped liking smoking.  I had been an avid and enthusiastic smoker for over 20 years and then at some point I just went off it.  My plan all along was to quit some time in 2021 but even I was surprised that one day I just woke up and was like, OK, that was it.  Flushed my tobacco down the toilet and threw all the papers and filters in the trash, then poured nasty dish water onto the trash.  Didn't make the mistake of "finishing the packet" or whatever smokers tell ourselves in order to procrastinate quitting. I found it much more empowering to flush the tobacco than to stay a slave to the packet because there happened to still be some in there.  In fact, in the first weeks after stopping, I thought of that moment several times a day, and felt strong.  And I couldn't believe how little time it took to feel SO much better.  Even after reading all the stuff--I did not expect to feel THAT much better after quitting.  Smoking once or twice a day is juuuuuuust enough to put you on edge and in a state of withdrawal for the rest of the day/until the next time you smoke.  I found that my mood improved almost immediately, I slept better and was much less cranky and irritable in general.  

 

OK, I'm sorry too!  Dangit, I knew I should have started a thread  maybe I still will...

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

I actually can't believe this wasn't a dedicated topic already, especially considering the popularity of the Life Without Alcohol thread.

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

19 minutes ago, Keleth said:

This is key I found.Many time I tried to  give up immediately and could never get past a few days.The time I last gave up I decided to give up the next day because the 1st cigarette in the morning I found to be the 1 I missed most and if I could give that up successfully then the rest was no problem.Also found being off work for a couple of weeks helped tremendously because at home there was no routine of smoke breaks while you get the chance etc.

 

I was actually really pleasantly surprised to go back to work and not miss smoke breaks.  The couple of times that I had quit before, I noticed that, ironically, time at work actually went by faster without taking smoke breaks.  Maybe psychologically, because you don't constantly have the thought of your next break in the back of your mind, and physiologically, because you're not in a constant state of withdrawal.  It's weird how after years of smoking you think you need it to feel normal and are worried, primarily, that you'll have no idea to do with your mind or your time if you give up.  Sometimes it's just the opposite.  You give up and wonder how you ever found the time, or in my case, how you ever did such a dirty and gross thing.  But by the time I stopped I was already disgusted with it.  One day to the next, almost. Still don't mind other people smoking, though.  Weirdly enough, I started to even kind of like the smell of other's people's cigarettes, which always bothered me when I still smoked.

[john g. 37,776]

https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155

I was THAT bad/ chain smoking all those years ago.

I even smoked and flicked ash onto the copy of Carr's book while reading it.

It didn't help. In my case- I then met my Nicole, who had been a chain smoker. She didn't moan about my smoking. Love❤️❤️😂! 

One day, I just said: " Scheiss darauf... gebe morgen auf."

 

Final cadged ciggie in a bar at 2 in the morning and at 9 I attended the opening of a painting business in Harburg - where I had breakfast champagne  standing next to a couple of smokers... I thought to myself..no point in hiding- this will happen a lot.

 

And I never became one of those militant anti-smokers. I will always remember what a horrible addiction it is.

 

And basically- you have to WANT .. but REALLY want to pack that shit in. 

 

What I did as a " reward " the first months afterwards was to buy myself a snazzy new shirt once in a while with the saved money!

 

 

[maxie 629]

My husband and I were heavy smokers and quit together. We actually planned the date a few months in advance and had a reward system worked out - 24 h, 1 week, 1 month. And I had made posters with the benefits of not smoking for 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks etc., suggestions what to do when the craving hit, things to never say etc. It has worked for us so far (5 years). 

I think everyone has to find their own way of doing it and - as was said before - you have to want it yourself. 

Good luck everone!